Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1887-10-29

. nt-f
- iii. wa. tha na,,.3 t;.,b,a,r,a,
Francisco. for whose be,1 FL. f,nT.r.
nor had offered a heavy r-war,i,
Thor. u.,. ,la,i,,,; !, ~. ,ha,crb.
NJ one woIld fla,n. NJ. -. s,,r,..,-
dsring IA 4 daredevil who wa. con-
.id.r.d- = ,na,.l, for any hbr... man IN
Yucafan
Rut my train IF tbono4bt was soa,1
int.r,1tpt4d ia ni.,-ant manner
Francisco had been zone perh,n.
quarter Of AN hour w}prn a mulet..ar
mad.. hi. appearane.. leadiner hi. Gtfle
burro along the narrow path Hailine
the STRANGER. | induced him :. cut nv
bond. and release ,n. rh. mnl4t..er
told me that escaped lightly. He
gave Francisco n very black character.
If this place had NOT been in -ipht
Of San Pablo. " said he. the ,ut-throas
would have killed YOU"
The next morning the little town Of
San Pablo WAS in \ state of eruption.
Men. women and children rushed uen-
NELL throuoh the street. utf.ring wild
wells. | looked out of the window sey-
er.l times. but could not make up nv
mind whether il was a revolution or a
threw myself on the bed and tried
IN ,ret INTO = dole and wa, succeeding
when the alcalde rushed into nv room
with = beyf of his retainers and nulled
me into 4 sitting posture.
,,The senor,, commands have been
obeyed." said the alcalde. excitedIy,
/ The doc of \ bandit ha, been arrest
/ ed and will be tried before me At
| once. But we need the senor's testi-
| mony. Without the senor we can do
I nothinr.''
! 1t took me almost no time to dress
/ and accompany the little brown alcalde
and his browner alguazils to the pre-
/ .tentious stone editice on the plaza call
ed the palace of Justice.
| had never seen a criminal trial in
/ a Mexican court. and everything was
new to me. The alcalde presided with
great dignity He was assisted by
prosecuting officer, and several advo-
Gates. as they call their lawyers, were
also on hand. The courtroom WAS
filled with II crowd of eager spectators,
all talking, swearing and shaking their
fists at the prisoner The robber, Fran
cisco. was the most unconcerned look
ing man in the crowd. Surrounded by
alguazils, he was not handeutfed, and
when he saw me he smiled and made
me polite bow.
The proceedings dragged all through
the weary day Ny limited knowledge
of the language made ii impossible for
me to follow everything that was said,
but | understood that an effort vas be
ing made to prove an aibi. Three
men, with rather honest faces. S"ore
*hat at 3 o'clock Oh the previous eve
ming they had imbibed pulque with
Francisco at a little village twenty
-1iles west of San Pablo. II they told
the truth, of course my robber could
not have been Francisco.
1t irritated me TO see 50 much inn
pOrtance attached to the albi and to
my ease, because had been led to be
lieve that the prisoner would be held
anyhow, as he was wanted for other
crimes and Il big reward had been Of
fered for him, was told, however,
that in 1ucatan prisoner, when he
demands trial. must be tried or re-
leased inside of twelve hours. In order
to hold him, therefore. the San Pablo
authorities had to make the most of
my cqidence.
The alibi business worried the old
alcald@not little. The three wit
nesses who swore to meeting Francis
co on, the afternoon before were reput-
, able men, On the other hand was a
stranger and an American. Several
times during the day | was recalled to
the stand and examined and cross ex-
amined. The utmost courtesy charac-
terized the examination. but II had a
latitude that would not hay" been per-
mitted in an American court Ere
quently Il, spectator would interrupt
with question or make a suggestion
to the alcalde. Once Francisco Tt
marked that he was tired and would